


(Don't) Blame It On the Moonlight

by carolinecrane



Category: Veritas: The Quest
Genre: Fandom Stocking 2013, M/M, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-08
Packaged: 2018-01-08 00:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1126481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/pseuds/carolinecrane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Nikko isn't sure where he stands with Calvin, but he thinks his father might actually be a clone.  A remix of tommygirl's "Blame It On the Drugs".</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Don't) Blame It On the Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tommygirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tommygirl/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Blame it on the Drugs](https://archiveofourown.org/works/188507) by [tommygirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tommygirl/pseuds/tommygirl). 



They’d been at the hotel bar for over an hour now, but Nikko still wasn’t convinced that he wasn’t dreaming. Or hallucinating, maybe. Either one of those would be a more believable explanation for his dad’s insistence that they all go out for a little ‘R&R’ than his father voluntarily taking the entire team out for drinks and dancing.

Granted, they were in Monte Carlo, and it would be a shame to find themselves in one of the hottest party spots in Europe without observing the local customs, as Nikko had put it. Only he’d been joking when he said it, because he _knew_ his father, and there was no way Solomon was going to turn Nikko loose in a bar, let alone tag along with the rest of the team in tow.

At least Nikko thought he knew his father, but at the moment he wasn’t even sure the man sitting at a table across the room, laughing and flirting with a couple women Vincent had magicked from nowhere _was_ his father.

“I can’t believe this,” a voice in his ear murmured, but instead of sounding sexy, it just sounded exasperated. “Are you seriously going to spend the whole night staring at Solomon?”

“How do we know he hasn’t been kidnapped and replaced with a clone?” Nikko asked, only half kidding as he pulled back to look at Cal. “I’m serious, Chuck. What if Dorna’s got my dad locked up somewhere, and they’re torturing him for information while we’re here living it up with an imposter?”

Cal rolled his eyes, his hands gripping Nikko’s hips a little tighter. “You think Vincent wouldn’t be able to tell if he was an imposter? He knows your dad better than anybody. Yes, even you,” Cal added when Nikko opened his mouth to protest. “Look, he probably just feels bad about keeping us going non-stop for months. Hell, maybe he’s just as burnt out as the rest of us. It’s one night, Nikko. Let it go.”

Nikko sighed and glanced at his dad again. It was true that the clone looked and acted exactly like his father; he was leaning back in his chair the same way Solomon always did, and he was even drinking Solomon’s usual ‘I have to keep my wits about me’ club soda. Still, Dorna had been shadowing them long enough to learn most of Solomon’s habits. 

Nikko was considering going over there and breaking up his dad’s little party to grill him with questions only the real Solomon would be able to answer, but before he made up his mind a pair of lips landed on his neck. Cal’s fingers curled around the fabric of his jeans, dragging Nikko closer as he opened his mouth to suck at Nikko’s skin. And yeah, okay, that was distracting, so if that was what he was going for, he was doing a hell of a job.

He arched his neck to give Cal more room to work, a shiver running down his spine when Cal laughed against his skin. “That’s more like it.”

“Are you trying to distract me from the fact that you’re distracting me?”

“Mostly I’m just trying to get you to shut up for a minute,” Cal answered, abandoning Nikko’s neck to press a kiss to his lips. “As usual.”

“Funny,” Nikko murmured, but he let Cal kiss him harder this time, breathing in sharply through his nose when Cal’s knee slid between his thighs. “But are you really sure you want my dad seeing us _this_ relaxed?”

“Good point,” Cal said. He straightened up and pulled away from Nikko, letting go of his hips to reach up and straighten his own shirt.

“I didn’t mean you had to stop,” Nikko said, frowning when Cal laughed at him.

Cal’s hands landed on the front of Nikko’s shirt to haul him forward, away from the wall he’d been pressed up against for the past fifteen minutes. “You feel like a swim?”

“Do I...what?”

“We passed the hotel pool on the way in here,” Cal said, rolling his eyes like Nikko should know exactly what he was getting at. “It looked pretty deserted. I figured we could take this party somewhere a little more...private.”

“Oh,” Nikko said, then, “Yeah. Yeah, that’s more like it.”

Cal grinned in that way that Nikko was never sure was affectionate, or just Cal wondering how he’d fallen for such a moron. Nikko tried not to take it personally, because Calvin was technically a genius, so if he wanted to think Nikko was a little slow sometimes...well, Nikko had other talents that helped balance their relationship.

“Good,” Cal answered, then he leaned in for another kiss. “I’ll go get us a couple drinks and meet you out there.”

Nikko nodded as Cal pulled away, fighting the urge to grab him and drag him close again. He could wait a couple minutes if it meant picking up where they’d left off without the audience, after all, no matter how immature Cal and his dad accused him of being.

As soon as Cal was gone Nikko turned and made a beeline for the door, ignoring Juliet and Maggie where they were sharing a table and nursing a couple glasses of wine. He had a feeling they were both smirking anyway, and the last thing he wanted to do was explain his...whatever with Calvin when his...whatever was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Besides, it wasn’t like they didn’t already have a clue that Cal and Nikko had been...whatever for a little while now. They hadn’t stopped arguing or anything, but there had definitely been a change in the way they bickered. Even his dad had mentioned it, which meant everyone else had noticed a long time ago. And Nikko didn’t mind that they knew -- he really didn’t -- but he wasn’t interested in analyzing it like he and Cal were some case for the team to solve.

He liked things the way they were, and yeah, okay, maybe eventually he wouldn’t mind figuring out what they were doing, exactly, but it was all still kind of new, and there was a part of him that was kind of enjoying the not knowing. He liked the jittery feeling in his stomach every time Cal walked into a room, liked glancing up during a trip into the field to find Cal watching him. He even liked the way Cal rolled his eyes whenever Nikko made a lame joke, because instead of looking annoyed these days, his lips curled up a little at the edges like he was holding back a smile.

Not that he’d ever admit any of that out loud, at least not until he knew for sure what it was they were doing. Which so far had amounted to a few stolen kisses, several arguments laced with a lot more innuendo than they’d ever been before, and a bunch of pointed looks across a room that usually also contained his father. He hadn’t made good on his joke about sharing a sleeping bag with Cal yet, but they seemed to be headed in that direction, and Nikko had a feeling that _are you up for a swim_ meant something along those lines.

He swallowed against the anticipation tightening at the base of his stomach, glancing around the deserted pool area to make sure they really were alone. The pool was ringed by a series of lounge chairs, but there were some cabanas set back by the closed bar as well, and he had a feeling if they hid out in one of those, they’d get as much privacy as they wanted.

His heart beat a little faster at the thought, and he glanced over his shoulder to see if there was any sign of Cal. It was one thing to forget themselves long enough to make out in a dark corner of the bar where the whole team could spot them if they wanted, but standing around in the warm night air by himself waiting for Cal to show up was somehow even more nerve-wracking. 

If they went through with this...well, it didn’t actually _mean_ anything, but for all his talk, Nikko had never really been the casual type. He had a feeling Cal wasn’t either, especially after seeing all the guilt he carried around about Sophie. Which meant this was...well, he still wasn’t sure what, but it was obviously _something_. It meant enough to both of them to take the chance of messing up the team, anyway, and that was what really scared Nikko.

As soon as he thought it his heart started hammering so loud he was sure the entire hotel could hear it. He wandered back toward the door that led toward the bar, but when he glanced in the hall was deserted. He had no idea how long he’d been standing out there; a couple minutes, probably, but it felt like hours. Still, it shouldn’t take that long to order a couple drinks, and if Cal was going to chicken out the last thing he wanted to do was wait around outside like an idiot all night.

The thought of Cal bailing on him made his stomach drop, and Nikko swallowed against the sudden sick feeling and headed back toward the bar before he could talk himself out of it. It was a dumb thing to worry about, he knew; the fact was that this had been Cal’s idea, and Nikko knew him well enough to know that Cal wouldn’t pull a trick like that just to be a jerk. He might think Nikko was an immature pain in the ass ninety percent of the time, but he was _Cal’s_ immature pain in the ass, and Nikko knew Cal liked him more than he pretended to.

When he reached the bar he stopped in the doorway, scanning the crowd until he spotted Cal standing at a table with Solomon. The thought of his own dad cockblocking him made Nikko want to laugh and throw up at the same time, but he swallowed hard and wove his way through the tables until he reached them. 

"Hey Chuck, how long are you going to keep me waiting at the pool..." Nikko stopped in mid-sentence, watching Cal fighting to hold his dad upright as Solomon swayed dangerously on his feet. “Dad? Are you okay?”

He knew how panicked he must look when he caught sight of Cal’s expression, but something about the way Cal looked at him made his racing heart slow down just a little, even though his father still looked like he was about to topple over. “I think someone slipped something into his drink.”

"But why?"

"People have a sick sense of humor?" Cal said with a little shrug.

It wasn’t exactly an answer, but he didn’t look as though he thought there was any reason to worry. Nikko wasn’t exactly sure that was true, but at least this put one of his fears to rest: This was definitely his father.

"And you worry about me? What is this? The second time you've been drugged without your knowledge?" Nikko asked as he grabbed Solomon’s other arm to help hold him steady. 

“Remind me to ground you later,” Solomon muttered in Nikko’s direction.

“Yeah, like that’ll happen,” Nikko answered. He grinned over his father’s head at Cal. "Chuck, you better get Vincent and tell the others the night out is over."

Cal nodded and let go of Solomon, and Nikko steered them toward the nearest chair and dropped his father into it. “Seriously, Dad. _Two times_. How is that even possible?”

"I should drug you. See how you like it."

Nikko laughed and pulled up another chair, planting himself next to his father in case he took another header and Nikko had to catch him. "Yeah, I don't let my drinks out of my sight. Learned that in boarding school."

Solomon frowned and reached out, flapping his hand in Nikko’s direction until Nikko caught it. To his surprise his dad held on, squeezing his fingers with a stronger grip than he should had been capable of, considering he’d just been roofied. 

"I did it to keep you safe," Solomon said, blinking in Nikko’s direction in what Nikko assumed was supposed to be an earnest way. And he really didn’t want to have this conversation, especially when he was pretty sure his father wouldn’t remember it in the morning. What he _wanted_ to be doing was making out with his...Calvin out by the pool, but he had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen now.

"Dad..."

"I'm really proud of you, son. You're a good man," Solomon said, letting go of Nikko’s hand to reach up and give him a clumsy pat on the cheek.

"Jesus. You're a maudlin drunk.” Nikko batted Solomon’s hand away from his face, then he reached out to grab his dad’s shoulder when he threatened to slump out of the chair and onto the floor.

"I'm not drunk."

"Whatever. Same difference. Still maudlin."

"Still not sure where you got the smart mouth."

Nikko grinned and said, "I'm a unique snowflake, dad. Consider yourself lucky."

"I do."

"Okay," Nikko answered, his throat tightening a little at his dad’s earnest tone. They’d come a long way since Nikko first joined up with Veritas, and he knew how much his dad loved him, but he was still getting used to hearing it out loud.

So he was glad when Cal reappeared with Vincent in tow, and when Vincent let out a low snort of laughter and reached down to haul Solomon to his feet, Nikko grinned and stood up.

“You need any help getting him to bed?” Cal asked, and Nikko didn’t have to look to picture his grin.

“I’ve got him,” Vincent answered. “You boys go back to your evening.”

He didn’t use the word ‘date’, but Nikko heard it anyway, and for some reason he felt his neck heat up. He wasn’t used to being self-conscious about...anything, really, but this thing with Cal was a completely new experience, and it didn’t help that the whole team knew exactly what was going on.

“Thanks, Vincent,” he heard Cal say, and when Nikko stole a glance at him, Calvin didn’t look embarrassed. Which was definitely weird, because if anyone was going to be all weird about the team knowing about them, he figured it would be Calvin. 

Neither of them said anything until Vincent walked away, half-dragging, half-carrying Solomon along with him. “I hope he wakes up with a killer headache tomorrow,” Nikko muttered.

“I don’t. He’ll never give us a night off again if he does.”

“You really think he’s going to give us another night off after getting himself roofied _twice_?” Nikko asked, turning to look at Cal.

When he did he found Cal watching him, and something about his smile made Nikko’s heart skip. “You okay?”

“Why, because my dad’s an easy target?” Nikko said, but he knew what Calvin was asking. He shrugged and thought about reaching for Calvin’s hand, but they didn’t really do that kind of thing, so he stopped himself. “I’ll survive.”

“Hey,” Cal said, taking a couple steps into Nikko’s personal space and reaching up to rest a hand against his cheek. “You sure?”

“Yeah,” Nikko answered, and the thing was, he meant it. He reached up and gripped Cal’s wrist, fingers curving around the fabric of his sleeve. “The pool’s nice, by the way.”

“Yeah?” Cal said, his smile turning up a watt or two. “We can head back out there, if you want.”

Nikko shrugged and tugged him a little closer to slide his free hand around Cal’s waist. “Or...I mean, your room’s right down the hall. Since we’re already here.”

“I’m sharing with Vincent,” Cal said, but he looked away from Nikko to glance down the hall toward the direction Vincent had disappeared. “You think...?”

“I think there’s a pretty good chance he’ll just crash on my bed in Dad’s room,” Nikko answered. “So I guess that means you’re sharing with me tonight.”

For a few seconds Cal just looked at him, like maybe he wasn’t sure how to answer, and too late Nikko realized that he’d just more or less invited himself to spend the night. Which...yeah, hooking up was one thing, but spending the whole night together was a whole different level of commitment. Their situation was already pretty weird, but somehow Nikko had just managed to make it weirder without even meaning to.

He opened his mouth to try to take it back, but before he got the words out, Cal said, “Do you think your dad would be cool with making that a regular thing?”

“What, us sharing a room?” Nikko asked, and he knew he probably sounded like an idiot, but the only way to be sure was to ask.

“Yeah. I mean, even if he didn’t know before tonight...he’s going to hear about us even if he didn’t see us together. Do you think he’s going to be okay with it?”

And now Nikko was the one staring, because he had no idea what part of that question to tackle first. There was the fact that Cal didn’t seem to care if Solomon knew about them, and yeah, Nikko got that impression when Cal pulled him into a corner and kissed him right in front of everyone. But there was a difference between making out after a drink or two and sharing a room on a regular basis, and the truth was Nikko had no idea how his dad would react.

“No idea,” he finally said, but he was grinning as he swayed forward to kiss Cal again. “But it’s not really up to him, is it?”

“Technically he could fire me, you know,” Cal answered, but the impact was kind of lost by the fact that he was murmuring the words against Nikko’s mouth.

“Technically he could fire both of us,” Nikko reminded him. He grinned again and hooked his fingers through Cal’s belt loops, dragging Cal with him in the direction of his room. “But he won’t. He needs us too much.”

“I’m not so sure Solomon sees it that way,” Cal said, but he didn’t argue when Nikko pushed him up against the door to his -- their -- room and kissed him hard. His hands landed on Nikko’s hips again, digging into the fabric of his jeans and pushing his shirt up like he was trying to get at Nikko’s skin. And that sounded like a great idea, so Nikko let go of Cal’s belt loops to dig in his back pocket for his room key.

“Don’t worry,” Nikko answered, grinning at the shiver that rolled through Cal when Nikko’s hand cupped his ass and squeezed. “I can be very persuasive.”


End file.
